Chill Billy ­- Peter Mazurowski

The message of "Billy Elliot," both the movie and the new Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, is that, with talent and determination, you can indeed dance your way to success. And that in a nutshell is the story of Bow's Peter Mazurowski, who took dance lessons at the N.H. School of Ballet, mostly surrounded by little girls in spandex and sequins, endured the kind of ribbing you might expect and now is appearing on the Great White Way in the lead role (he rotates with four other boys) of one of the year's hottest plays.

"Billy Elliot" is your Broadway debut. What's the biggest thing that ever happened to you before this? Probably my first dance competition. It was a big moment. My first time getting in front of an audience that big. There were a bunch of studios there and I did really well. I think the first time I had a solo I scored first for a 10 to 11 year old.

What do you think you did in your audition that got you the part? I just really immersed myself in the process and focused. I made sure I knew what I was doing and brought everything to the table. I did take voice lessons in New Hampshire a year before the audition with Joel Mercier. He's done a lot of theatre stuff in New Hampshire and he really helped me to prepare.

So you are one of five Billy's - tell me what that's like. We don't get competitive. We're all really good friends. We see each other for hours every day. We all get tutored and one of us is always on standby when another is on stage.

How are you most like Billy Elliot? I'm like Billy because I did get some criticism from people for doing dance and also because I had some great teachers who made me what I am today. But I'm different because I always had the full support of my family.

In your bio you say you wanted to be on Broadway since a young age. Aren't you pretty young now? What got you hooked on that dream? Yeah, I was like maybe 7 or 8 when I decided I wanted to do this. One of my favorite movies was "The Wizard of Oz," and so I heard about a musical on Broadway called "Wicked" and I had never heard of Broadway, so that's when I Iearned about it. I did plays with the Community Players of Concord and the Palace Theatre - "Godspell," "Guys and Dolls" and "Suessical."

Broadway theatre life seems like it would be glamorous. Is it? I don't always have that much time off but I do get to go out and do touristy stuff. It's definitely a lot of work.

More than you thought? Yes. And I was expecting a lot.

Things always go wrong in local theatre. How about Broadway? No huge thing has happened. I did throw up once during intermission, so that kind of stunk. I had just done "Angry Dance" and I was feeling kind of sick. I got to laugh about it later.

This article appears in the April 2011 issue of New Hampshire Magazine